Happy Birthdays
by Lavender Phantom Flame
Summary: July 23rd and October 10th - two very important days for two very different people, but special to them both just the same. Mild SasuNaruSasu eventually. Rating subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

"Happy Birthdays"

Part 1: July 23

Uchiha Sasuke hated birthday presents.

It wasn't because he hated his birthday. It was true, each one so far marked another year that he'd failed to kill Itachi. But it was also a reminder that he was that much stronger, that much faster, and that much closer to his goal. It wasn't because of who gave him the gifts either. Grocers and restaurants would offer him free food, shop owners tried to give him discounts, and of course The Fangirls attempted to bury him in a pile of gifts ranging from flowers and sweets to scrolls and equipment and, in at least once case, a kitten. It wasn't even what the gifts were (most of the time, anyway – a lot of his fangirls had an odd idea of what they thought the raven would like for a present).

The simple fact was that Sasuke hated birthday gifts because he hated the entire idea of gifts in general. The only reason other people gave presents to others, in his opinion, was so that the recipients would be obligated to pay back somehow. The restaurants, shop owners, and grocers gave freebies and discounts in the hopes that you'd continue to buy from them at full price later; friends and family gave each other gifts in the hopes that they'd get one in return; and the fangirls thought that they could use presents to buy their object of affection's love. Birthdays, Valentine's Day, Christmas – the endless exchanges of gifts and favors just annoyed Sasuke to no end.

However, there was only one type of gift that he actually agreed with: the anonymous kind. The only reason the sender would choose to not identify themselves is because they didn't expect anything in return. Oh, Sasuke was sure they _wanted_ something; but if they were willing to hide their identity and thereby give up any chance of reprisal then they had to believe they wouldn't get it anyway. And yet they still gave the gift. He'd never understood the logic behind that, but he wasn't about to argue.

Ever since he was eight, someone had been leaving a gift on his doorstep every year on his birthday – a small bag of fresh tomatoes. There was never any card or note or anything; only once had there been anything like that, the very first time he'd returned home for a birthday without his family and had discovered the bag with a little store-bought tag printed with the words "Happy Birthday" tied to it. It wasn't like Sasuke could refuse it. There was no one to refuse. And if he gave it to someone else he'd just be participating in the very cycle of give-to-receive that he hated. Besides, it was **tomatoes**. You just don't refuse tomatoes. It isn't done! So every year someone left Sasuke a bag of tomatoes for his birthday – and every year Sasuke picked up the bag and took it inside.

Whoever it was that left them, Sasuke was sure that they had to be growing them themselves. He'd never seen (or tasted!) tomatoes quite as good as these were, or as big. No matter which store or market stand he went to, he just couldn't find them. And if Sasuke couldn't buy them, then it stood to reason that the anonymous gifter couldn't either; so they _had_ to be giving him something they grew. And Sasuke wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Were they giving him extras that they wouldn't eat? Were they setting aside some to make sure they didn't forget? Or were they growing them just for him and him alone? He didn't know…but he liked to think that it was the last reason.

So when Sasuke returned home the evening of his thirteenth birthday and saw who it was that had been leaving him tomatoes for the past six years, the first thing that he did was panic and hide. This wasn't right, he wasn't supposed to know. He _couldn't_ know. If he knew, then he wouldn't be able to accept the gift. If he accepted the gift then he'd have to pay that person back, return the favor, and that was something he _would not do_.

The second thing he did was wonder, _Why would __**Naruto**__ want to leave me a gift?_

Yes, Sasuke's anonymous gifter was none other than Konoha's number one unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja, Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke stayed hidden as the blond, completely unaware of his audience, carefully examined the tomatoes one last time. Then he smiled and nodded to himself, apparently pleased with the quality of his gift, before he set the bag down gently in front of the door and turned to leave. When he saw this Sasuke quietly moved further back into his hiding spot. It was bad enough that he knew who was leaving him the presents; if Naruto found out that he knew then the dobe was certain to start demanding return gifts. He could almost hear him now: "Hey teme, you owe me for six years worth of presents you know! But if you pay for all my ramen for the next six years I'll call us even." The raven-haired ninja shuddered.

But Naruto just walked right past him. _Dobe really needs to work on his observation skills or he's going to get himself killed someday…_ He waited until the blond was completely out of sight (which took a bit – orange **is**__a highly visible color) before finally walking up to his door, looking down at the bag. He sighed.

Should he take them? If Sasuke took the bag wouldn't he owe Naruto a gift in return? Or was he fine as long as Naruto didn't know he knew? He'd never been in this kind of situation before. The whole thing was so confusing…this was why he hated gifts! Sasuke brought his hand up to his forehead and rubbed it – he could feel a headache coming on. "Dammit, dobe."

But, now that he knew who was giving them to him he could just refuse to accept the gift at all. Yes, that's what he'd have to do. He sighed again, then picked up the bag and turned to leave. It was a shame though, Sasuke thought, since they were always such good tomatoes…

He stopped.

Sasuke knew that it was Naruto who had been leaving the tomatoes every year. He also knew that whoever had been leaving the tomatoes was growing them themselves. But…that didn't make any sense. Why would Naruto, who hated all fruits and vegetables with a passion, be growing tomatoes?

_Unless he's growing them just for me…_

He looked down at the bag in his hand. Why? Why would the dobe go to the trouble of growing tomatoes just for him _every year_ and then leave them without any indication of who sent them? Why would he put all that time and effort into a gift he'd never be thanked for, for a person who insulted him with every other breath? Sasuke just didn't understand…no, he did. He knew exactly why the blond would do this. Naruto grew the tomatoes because saw Sasuke as a friend, but left them anonymously because he was just too scared of rejection to do it face to face. And if Sasuke were to refuse them now, simply because he knew who was leaving them…it would break the blond's heart. He just couldn't do that. He couldn't hurt the only other person in the entire village who understood what true loneliness felt like.

And they _were_ really good tomatoes. You just don't refuse tomatoes.

Hefting the bag over his shoulder, Sasuke turned and headed back into his house. He was hungry, and had several perfectly good tomatoes to eat up. As he thought through several recipes that he could use for dinner he decided that he couldn't spend too long cooking, eating, and cleaning up; he needed some time to think before heading to bed. He wanted to go over just what he knew about Naruto and figure out what all he liked – besides ramen, of course.

He only had a little over three months till October, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER** (since I forgot to do this in the first chapter): Naruto is not owned by me. The characters are not owned by me. They belong to Kishimoto.

This story is a DU (divergent universe) so it doesn't follow the storyline exactly – don't send me notes about how "this should've happened" or "this isn't supposed to happen". I am the author, fear my power.

* * *

"Happy Birthdays"

Part 2: October 10

Uzumaki Naruto loved birthday presents.

Not just because he loved his birthday. Sure, it also marked the day the Kyuubi attacked the village and the Yondaime Hokage had died to seal it inside the blond. But at the same time it made him feel a little bit like a real hero; sometimes he felt like he'd been born so the fox could be defeated. And besides, each birthday meant he was one year closer to becoming Hokage and finally getting the respect he'd always wanted. It wasn't because of who gave him gifts either. Teuchi and Ayame let him eat all the ramen he wanted on the house, Ino's mom was more than happy to let him buy supplies or a new seedling or packet of seeds at half-price, and Iruka-sensei took time out of his day to give him a home-cooked dinner. It wasn't even what the gifts were – though Naruto was never one to pass up free food, and saving a bit of money was always a good thing.

Naruto loved birthday gifts simply because of what they meant. Gifts were away to show someone you cared about them or appreciated them. Teuchi and Ayame comped his meals for the day because he spent so much money and time at Ichiraku's anyways; Yamanaka-san let him shop half-price because she knew how much Naruto loved gardening and how expensive maintaining his precious rooftop greenhouse was; and Iruka-sensei cooked for Naruto because he cared about the blond…they were the closest thing each other had to a family.

That was probably why he'd started growing tomatoes for Sasuke every year. Naruto didn't want gratitude or thanks…all he'd wanted was to show Sasuke that there was at least one person who cared enough to make sure he had one of his favorite foods on his birthday. (Honestly, the blond had gotten lucky enough to overhear a group of girls talking about Sasuke's favorite foods one day while they tried to figure out the 'perfect present for Sasuke-kun'. He would've never gotten the idea otherwise.)

So when Naruto left the Yamanaka's flower shop the afternoon of his thirteenth birthday, he was in high spirits. He'd just eaten his fill of (free!) ramen for lunch, bought everything he needed for his garden and still had money to spare, and was ready to head home and start preparing his 'greenhouse' for the coming winter before heading over to Iruka-sensei's for a birthday feast. His birthday was as wonderful as it could possibly be. Oh sure, it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible either; thankfully most of the villagers seemed to care more about celebrating the Kyuubi's defeat and mourning the loss of loved ones than harassing the blond demon vessel.

Then he turned the corner and his mood plummeted. _Why, of all possible times, why did the teme have to show up __**now**__?_

Standing just feet away from the blond was none other than Uchiha Sasuke. And while normally Naruto would welcome the chance for some sparring – both physical and verbal – with his raven-haired rival/best friend/whatever, today he was not in the mood. He did not want to spend his birthday being insulted at regular intervals. Ducking behind the multitude of packages in his arms, Naruto attempted to slip around the raven unnoticed. He didn't seem to have been spotted yet and-

"What are you doing with all those bags, dobe?"

…and there goes **that** plan. Sighing, Naruto shuffled his bags till they were a little more stable before rounding the full force of his glare at Sasuke. "What does it matter, teme? And would you move? You're in my way." Not bothering to wait for him to actually move he tried to walk around the raven – only to have several of his bags pulled from his grip. "What the hell are you doing!? Give those back!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm giving you a hand. There's no way you could've gotten all this stuff through these crowds on your own without dropping something, and besides you could barely see." He eyed the blond quietly for a few seconds, and then smirked. "Well are you going to show me the way to your place, or are we just going to stand here until our arms fall off?" The raven had to hold back a chuckle as Naruto stalked off, grumbling about "stupid interfering temes and their stupid interfering ways".

When they finally got back to Naruto's apartment (he had to admit it was a bit easier to unlock to door without having to juggle a dozen heavy shopping bags) and had set the bags down on the table, the blond turned to confront his teammate. He was fully prepared to rip into the other teen and demand to know just what was going on – only to be stopped short when Sasuke shoved an envelope against his chest. Before Naruto could react, the raven had already turned and left. The blond shook his head and sighed, "Stupid confusing teme…" before bending to pick the envelope back up.

It was a rather ordinary envelope, the only distinguishing markings being Naruto's name written in the raven's infuriatingly neat handwriting. _Seriously, does he have to do __**everything**__ perfectly?_ Lifting the flap (it did have his name on it after all), Naruto was surprised to see that it was filled with money.

A _lot_ of money. Like, a _whole lot_ of money. Still somewhat stunned, Naruto started counting. _One, two, three, four, five…holy crap, fifteen thousand ryo!? Why would the teme give me fifteen grand?_ He pulled the bills from the envelope to make sure he'd counted right and blinked when a slip of paper fell out onto the table as well. Curious, he flipped it over.

_**Happy Birthday, Naruto.**_

_**I couldn't think of anything to get you, so**_

_**I just decided to just give you some money.**_

_**You can buy your own gift.**_

_**P.S. If you tell **__**anyone**__** about this, I will **__**kill**__** you.**_

Naruto reread the note a few more times. He almost didn't believe it. Sasuke had wanted to get him a birthday gift? The blond shook his head and turned back to the stack of bills, counting and recounting. He got the same amount each time that he had the first time. Fifteen thousand ryo…he'd never had the much money at one time before. Still dazed, he glanced over at the clock – and shot up out of his chair. "Crap, I have to be at Iruka-sensei's in an hour!" Quickly he slid the money back into the envelope and rushed over to his bed, hiding it under the mattress. Then he snatched his keys back up and headed for the door; maybe he could at least get the tarp-and-Plexiglas 'greenhouse' up before he had to head off…

Later that night, Naruto lay awake in bed. He had a full stomach, a temporary greenhouse full of winter supplies, and an unexpected fortune hidden safely away. Glancing over at the windowsill, he smiled at the sight of the note sitting propped up against a flowerpot that held a very precious plant. Snuggling under the covers, he closed his eyes.

He was going to have to do something extra special for Sasuke next year.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Happy Birthday Naruto! Or belated birthday, depending on when this actually shows up.

I'm assuming that ryo (the currency in the Narutoverse for those who don't know) is worth about the same as yen, so 15,000.00 ryo/yen equals about $167.13 USD. Thank god for currency converters.

And yes, the "precious plant" is the tomato plant. Naruto brought it inside for the winter.


End file.
